Over the past two decades, single parenting has been a common phenomenon in the western society but there is little or no information available about its long-term impact to the life-span development of children who are subjected to this situation. As the divorce rate drastically up surged over the years, it provoked concern about the quality of family life in the US from social scientists who directed their resources towards the understanding of the effects of divorce on minors and adults. Recent studies have focused much of their attention on establishing the static notions of outcomes of divorce and single parenting (Hetherington " Arasteh, 2014). Various scientific researchers have drastically progressed and they have realized the significance of reviewing families as they through different transitions following separation. In order to comprehend the effects of divorce and single parenting on the life-span development of children and adults, this term paper will highlight some of the long-term impact of divorce.
In a bid to understand both short and long-term effects of separation and single parenting and identify the areas which require further investigations, various studies have consulted ideas from the field of life-span development (Hetherington " Arasteh, 2014). Thus, by emphasizing that development proceeds across a complete lifetime, different studies have been able to broaden their inquiry beyond a single point estimate of the consequences of divorce on children and their single parent. However, despite the fact that all the studies have appreciated that the rate of divorce has drastically increased over the years, there are many diverse interpretations on the impact of this situation on minors. For instance, Richter and Lemola (2017) established that single parenting is linked to a stable life-span across adulthood until old age. Contrary to this finding, Haimi and Lerner (2016) found that the separation adversely affects the psychological state of a child due to the inter-parental conflict that precedes stressful life events and the economic difficulties which accompany him/her following a divorce.
Although some studies have established that there is a small difference on the impact of separation and single parenting on children and adults, there is substantial evidence which shows that children are adversely affected later in their adult life as a result of these situations (Hetherington " Arasteh, 2014). Children’s adjustment to divorce and single parenting largely depends on factors such as parenting skills, the quality of contact with noncustodial parents, the degree of economic difficulty, the psychological adjustment of the custodial parents, and the intensity of the inter-parental disagreement. Thus, due to the fact that life-span development of children living with a single parent is dependent on several factors, there have been inconsistency results from various studies. According to a study conducted by Richter and Lemola (2017), persons who are entirely raised up by a single mother during their first 15 years exhibited on average a reduction in life satisfaction more than those who spent constrained time with their single parent. The study linked the reduction in adulthood life satisfaction to a person's living condition such as lower socio-economic status and poor social integration (Hetherington " Arasteh, 2014).
In another study conducted by Haimi and Lerner (2016), it established that children who are subjected to divorce process and single parenting condition were on an average less well than those who are raised in a regular family of both parents. The individuals from families of a single parent exhibited difficulties in school, had more social issues with their peers, more behavioral challenges, showed difficulties associating with other members of the family, and more negative self-concept (Haimi and Lerner, 2016). Various studies have found that the likelihood of an individual to exhibit behavioral issues and depression upsurge as the conflict between divorced or married parents intensifies (Hetherington " Arasteh, 2014). Recent evidence has demonstrated that parents who are in a position to solve conflicts drastically reduce the level of depression of their children. However, various researches have established that most families with two parents function better due to the fact that they are able to solve their conflict faster than the single or divorced parents. Thus, as a result of their parents’ inability to solve their issues, children living in a divorced or single family exhibit problems in their cognitive and social abilities (Haimi and Lerner, 2016).
Although the main impact of the divorce process and single parenting on children and adults are evident in terms of behaviors and emotions, physical illness has also been described in various studies. For instance, recent research has found that kids exposed to divorce or single parenting environment were at a high risk of developing attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder early in their lives due to low socioeconomic status and other related issues (Berger, 2009). In addition, other studies examined the link between adverse family environment during the early stage of a child’s development and self-perceived health and established that exposure to divorce and single parenting in childhood was related to poor health later in life (Hetherington " Arasteh, 2014). This parameter was affected by the connection between a parent and the kid and the extent to which he/she was the witness of the conflict between the parents or the financial challenges he/she experienced during childhood.
Although various studies show contrasting evidence on the impact of divorce and single parenting on the life-span development of children, the studies which concluded that children exhibit no lingering negative consequence is inconsistent and cannot be relied upon to draw a conclusion about this subject. However, taking a broader perspective, there are possible qualifications which temper the significance of this conclusion. First, the average difference between children from single or divorced parents and continuously intact families is significantly minimized. In this regard, this fact gives an impression that divorce or single parenting does not serve as a severe stressor for minors as there are other things which can contribute to negative consequences among children. Second, although children who were raised by single or divorced parents may exhibit some disparities from children in two-parent families, there is evidence of overlap between the two groups. The diversity which can be seen on the overall wellbeing of children from non-divorced and divorced families is instrumental in helping to comprehend why the effects of divorce or single parenting on life-span development are relatively weak. Although divorce and single parenting to some extent represent severe stressor which in return can contribute to substantial decline or impairment in wellbeing in children, for others, this situation may be relatively inconsequential. For instance, some children show improvements following divorce or single parenting.
References
Berger, K. S. (2009). Invitation to the life span. Macmillan.
Haimi, M., " Lerner, A. (2016). The impact of parental separation and divorce on the health status of children, and the ways to improve it. Journal of Clinical " Medical Genomics, 1-7. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Motti_Haimi2/publication/295693740_The_Impact_ of_Parental_Separation_and_Divorce_on_the_Health_Status_of_Children_and_the_Way s_to_Improve_it/links/56cc774908ae1106370d92a4/The-Impact-of-Parental-Separation- and-Divorce-on-the-Health-Status-of-Children-and-the-Ways-to-Improve-it.pdf
Hetherington, E. M., " Arasteh, J. D. (2014). Impact of divorce, single parenting and stepparenting on children: a case study of visual agnosia. Psychology Press.Retrieved from: https://content.taylorfrancis.com/books/download?dac=C2007-0-02722- X"isbn=9781317760375"format=googlePreviewPdf
Richter, D., " Lemola, S. (2017). Growing up with a single mother and life satisfaction in adulthood: A test of mediating and moderating factors. PloS one, 12(6), e0179639. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5472317/#pone.0179639.ref005
